1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus and method for information processing in a network system.
2. Prior Art
A multi-function peripheral (hereinafter referred to as an “MFP”) having printer, facsimile, and scanner functions is widely used as an input/output device of information processing apparatuses (personal computers). Connecting a plurality of personal computers and MFP to a network for information processing use is also widely practiced. An approach in relation to this is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Laid Open Patent Publication JP2000-092121.
In such a network system, a plurality of personal computers connected to the network share data. Each of personal computers is able to perform information processing such as reading shared data from folder, or transmitting shared data to store into folder via network.
Files in which such data has been stored are sorted and arranged in subdirectories which are called folders. A folder that is shared across a plurality of personal computers via the network so that the users can access the data stored in the folder is called a “shared folder.” In the following description of the present invention, the term “shared folder” is used in this sense.
In a network system where a plurality of personal computers are connected to a network, taking advantage of shared folders, when, for example, an MFP attempts to transmit data to a particular personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a destination personal computer), it may happen that at the present time, data transmission is unsuccessful while the destination personal computer is in a power-off state, although at the last time, data transmission was successful when the destination personal computer was in a power-on state. Or, it may happen that at the present time, data transmission is unsuccessful while the destination personal computer is disconnected from the network, although at the last time, data transmission was successful when the destination personal computer was connected to the network and was in the power-on state.
Like this, a disadvantage with the above network system is that, when the destination personal computer is in the power-off state or disconnected from the network, that personal computer cannot be selected as the destination to transmit data to.
Another disadvantage with the above network system is that, when a plurality of destination personal computers are registered in advance and configured to be displayed so that a selection from them is made when data transmission is performed, it cannot be determined whether or not each of these destination personal computers is in a data receivable state.
This invention is aimed to solve the foregoing problems.